Event notification system and method

ABSTRACT

A technique for user notification involves modifying a title associated with a process to include information about an event that calls for user notification. A method according to the technique may include running a process, processing an event, generating a string of characters that includes information associated with the event, and displaying the string of characters as a title associated with the process. A system constructed according to the technique may include a client, a title array, an event processing engine, and a title provisioning engine.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. Ser. No.13/165,709, filed Jun. 21, 2011, entitled EVENT NOTIFICATION SYSTEM ANDMETHOD, which claims priority to U.S. Ser. No. 11/637,514, filed Dec.11, 2006, entitled EVENT NOTIFICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/748,988,filed Dec. 9, 2005, which are incorporated herein by reference. Thispatent application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/721,538, filed Mar. 10, 2010, entitled HIGH LEVEL NETWORK LAYERSYSTEM AND METHOD, which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,144,filed Dec. 11, 2006; Ser. No. 11/637,268, filed Dec. 11, 2006, entitledPICTURE PROVISIONING SYSTEM AND METHOD; Ser. No. 11/637,964 filed Dec.11, 2006, entitled MESSAGE HISTORY DISPLAY SYSTEM AND METHOD; and Ser.No. 11/637,316 filed Dec. 11, 2006, entitled CONTACT LIST DISPLAY SYSTEMAND METHOD.

BACKGROUND

Instant messaging requires the use of a client program that hooks up aninstant messaging service and differs from e-mail in that conversationsare then able to happen in real time. Most services offer a presenceinformation feature, indicating whether people on one's list of contactsare currently online and available to chat. This may be called a contactlist. In early instant messaging programs, each letter appeared as itwas typed, and when letters were deleted to correct typos this was alsoseen in real time. This made it more like a telephone conversation thanexchanging letters. In modern instant messaging programs, the otherparty in the conversation generally only sees each line of text rightafter a new line is started. Most instant messaging applications alsoinclude the ability to set a status message, roughly analogous to themessage on a telephone answering machine.

Popular instant messaging services on the public Internet include .NETMessenger Service, MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Excite/Pal,Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, iChat, ICQ, Jabber, Qnext, QQ, Meetro, Skype,Trillian and Yahoo! Messenger. These services owe many ideas to an older(and still popular) online chat medium known as Internet Relay Chat(IRC).

The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations relatedtherewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Otherlimitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill inthe art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.

SUMMARY

The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described andillustrated in conjunction with systems, tools, and methods that aremeant to be exemplary and illustrative, not limiting in scope. Invarious embodiments, one or more of the above-described problems havebeen reduced or eliminated, while other embodiments are directed toother improvements.

A technique for user notification involves modifying a title associatedwith a process to include information about an event that calls for usernotification. A method according to the technique may include running aprocess, such as, by way of example but not limitation, an IM clientprocess, a browser, or some other process that has a title associatedtherewith. The method may further include processing an event, such asby way of example but not limitation, a new mail event, a new instantmessage event, a reminder event, a calendar event, or some other event,and generating a string of characters that includes informationassociated with the event. The method may further include displaying thestring of characters as a title associated with the process. A systemconstructed according to the technique may include a client, a titlearray, an event processing engine, and a title provisioning engine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the inventions are illustrated in the figures. However,the embodiments and figures are illustrative rather than limiting; theyprovide examples of the invention.

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a system for providing instant messages toclients via a web interface.

FIG. 2 depicts an example of a system for displaying content from an IMclient at an alternative IM client.

FIGS. 3A-3D depict examples of screenshots with IM notificationfunctionality.

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of an example of a method for changing atitle associated with a titlebar.

FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart of an example of a method for displaying anevent-related title.

FIG. 6 depicts an example of a system for programmed text event-specifictitle provisioning.

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart of an example of a method for displayingprogrammed text titles.

FIG. 8 depicts a computer system suitable for implementation of thetechniques described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, several specific details are presented toprovide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. Oneskilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the inventioncan be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or incombination with other components, etc. In other instances, well-knownimplementations or operations are not shown or described in detail toavoid obscuring aspects of various embodiments, of the invention.

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a system 100 for providing instant messagesto clients via a web interface. In the example of FIG. 1, the system 100includes a network 102, a server 104, and an Instant Messenger (IM)server 106, and an IM network 108. The server 104 is coupled to thenetwork at least by way of port 80. The two way communication via port80 is represented in the example of FIG. 1 as an arrow 110. The server104 is coupled to the IM server 106 via one or more other ports. The twoway communication via the other ports is represented in the example ofFIG. 1 as an arrow 112. The IM server 106 is coupled to the IM network108 via any known or convenient mechanism. Indeed, the IM server 106 maybe thought of as part of the IM network 108. The network 102 couples aplurality of clients 114-1 to 114-N (referred to collectively as clients114) to the server 104. In the example of FIG. 1, the server 104includes an event queue 116.

The network 102 may include by way of example but not limitation LAN,WAN, VLAN, WLAN, Internet, cellular network, phone network, radionetwork, or some other known or convenient network. The term “Internet”as used herein refers to a network of networks that uses certainprotocols, such as TCP/IP, and possibly other protocols such as thehypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) for hypertext markup language (HTML)documents that make up the World Wide Web (the web). The physicalconnections of the Internet and the protocols and communicationprocedures are well known, but any convenient physical connections orprotocols could be used.

The server 104 may include a multiple servers. Indeed, it may bedesirable, depending upon details of a particular implementation, toinstall several servers to cope with the number of simultaneous usersthe system 100 supports. It may further be desirable, depending upondetails of a particular implementation, for the server 104 to have ahigh CPU throughput, together with large amounts of RAM, to handle alarge number of users. It may further be desirable, depending upondetails of a particular implementation, to accomplish resource sharingvia thread handling where a pool of threads is shared and used by one ormore of the clients 114 for client-server communication and between theserver 104 and the IM server 106.

The server 104 may include one or more of an application server,database server, web server, banners server, and content server, or anycombination thereof. To make the most of the techniques describedherein, the server 104 should, though is not required to, include atleast one application server. The other servers can have supportingroles in, by way of example but not limitation, serving static contentor advertising (e.g., banners), storing usage data, or fulfilling someother known or convenient function.

The server 104 may act as a proxy server between the clients 114 and theIM server 106. The server 104 receives communications from the clients114 on http port 80, and responds to the clients 114 on http port 80.Communications from the clients 114 that are bound for the IM network108, however, must also come through http port 80 to the server 104, andare then forwarded to the IM server 106. In this way, the server 104acts as a carrier of the data from users to the IM network 108 using amechanism that controls and manages the data (e.g., text messages,display images, emoticons, audio/video streams, etc.) sent between oneof the clients 114 and the server 104, and vice versa.

The IM server 106 may be any known or convenient IM server that iscompatible with IM. Events, messages, or other appropriate data from theIM server 106 are collected in the event queue 116 of the server 104.The events may be collected in association with a variety of protocolsincluding by way of example but not limitation port 1863, port 5050,port 5222, port 5190, etc.

The IM network 108 may include one or a combination of networks selectedfrom MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM AOL, ICQ, QQ, Jabber, GoogleTalk, IRC, or some other known or convenient IM network.

The clients 114 may include any known or convenient device, including byway of example but not limitation, a Web browser, mobile client, PDA,game console, TV box, native application, etc. The clients poll theserver 104 for events. The events can be removed from the event queue116 and translated into text, JavaScript, XML, or some other known orconvenient format that one or more of the clients 114 need or expect inorder to process data associated with the event.

To interact with the IM network 108, the clients 114 send data to theserver 104. The data, which may include commands, is processed andtranslated into corresponding data that will be sent to the appropriateIM network. In an embodiment, the appropriate IM network may bedeterminable based upon the protocol encoded in a message.

Messages or actions from the clients 114 are collected over networkprotocols such as, by way of example but not limitation, HTTP or plainsocket connections. The messages or actions are transformed to anappropriate protocol format to be sent over a compliant port from theclients 114 to the server 104, with the IM protocol on the applicationside. In a non-limiting embodiment, the compliant port is http port 80.However, any port having similar characteristics to those of a typicalport 80 could be used.

The latest available browsers, as of December 2005, enable the use of atechnique called AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML). With AJAX,appropriately configured clients 114 can execute actions and poll formessages or events using only JavaScript. The method is based on usingan XMLHttpRequest object to make HTTP requests to the server 104. Theserver 104 may reply with messages taken from the queue of thecorresponding session in XML (or another) format that are parsed anddisplayed according to the message content.

For clients 114 that include a browser, when accessing the server 104the browser typically uses hidden HTML frames to update information onvisible frames. The visible frames display appropriate information whilethe hidden frames are reloaded in short periods of time. In each refreshthat hits the server 104, the browser identifies the current messagingsession and checks if new events or messages associated with the sessionare in the event queue 116. When new information arrives and needs to bedisplayed in some form, the browser makes use of, for example,JavaScript code to update the visible frames and windows with newmessages or events keeping the information up to date in the screen. Inthis way, automatic refreshing can take place in a hidden frame.

In another embodiment, certain of the clients 114 with browsers may notmake use of refreshes. For example, a form of updating the screenwithout using a refresh technique is to keep one single HTTP socketrequest alive for the whole period of a messaging session withoutactually closing the socket connection. In this example, information isinitially loaded and displayed in one single visible frame. While eventsand messages are being received by the server 104, JavaScript code canbe injected into the HTML document through the same HTTP socket keptalive and managed by the server 104. For each event or message, thebrowser can interpret the JavaScript code injected and the correspondingparts of the HTML document and windows will be updated.

In another embodiment, certain of the clients 114 with browsers may makeuse of manual refreshes. Some relatively unsophisticated browsers, suchas WAP and xHTML browsers often available on mobile phones, do notsupport hidden frames and/or JavaScript (and others may be configuredsuch that they do not support hidden frames and/or JavaScript). In suchcases, the information displayed has to be updated manually by the user.Manual updating enables any mobile phone, PDA, TV Set or any device witha browser to connect to the server 104 and use the messaging platformsmade available by the server 104 assuring the communication between theclients 114 and the IM server 106.

Message history can be stored by most IM clients on a local computer.For alternative web and mobile-based.clients local storage may not bepossible. In a non-limiting embodiment, the server 104, may have thecapability to store message history from IM conversations done via oneor more of the clients 114. The message history can be accessed andsearched at any time via the server 104 by one or more of the clients114

FIG. 2 depicts an example of a system 200 for displaying content from anIM client at an alternative IM client. In the example of FIG. 2, thesystem 200 includes a client 202, an IM network 204, a server 206, an IMnetwork 208, a client 210, other IM networks 212-1 to 212-N (referred tocollectively as other IM networks 212), and other clients 214-1 to 214-N(referred to collectively as other clients 214).

For illustrative purposes, it is assumed that the client 202 has contentthat is compatible with the IM network 204. However, the client 210 iscapable of reading content formatted to be compatible with the IMnetwork 208. Thus, in operation, the server 206 collects content fromthe client 202 (either through the IM network 204, as shown in FIG. 2,or directly from the client 202, such as is shown by way of example inFIG. 1). The server 206 then formats the content as appropriate for useon the IM network 208. Once the content is properly formatted, it can bemade available to the client 210 (either through the IM network 208, asshown in FIG. 2, or directly to the client 210, such as is shown by wayof example in FIG. 1). Depending upon the embodiment and/orimplementation, the content may also be formatted as appropriate for oneor more of the other IM networks 212, to be made available for one ormore of the other clients 214.

As is well-understood, different devices provide differentfunctionality. For example, a desktop typically provides greaterstorage, greater display area, and greater power than a cell phone.Thus, at best, an IM client must work under the constraints imposed by aparticular device. Depending upon the device, certain functionality maybe more useful. For example, a device may have inferior capabilitieswith respect to notifying a user when a message is received.

The device capabilities may limit the way in which a user can benotified when a message is received. The environment in which a useroperates may provide another limitation. For example, a user at work maynot want to play a noise or have a popup window show up every time amessage is received. Similarly, a user who gets lots of messages may notwant to hear the noise or see the popup windows because of the greatfrequency with which it occurs. Advantageously, notification can takeplace in a titlebar, which is great for devices that have inferiornotification functionality, and great for users who want a subtlenotification.

FIGS. 3A-3D depict examples of screenshots 300 with IM notificationfunctionality. The bar may be a titlebar, a taskbar, or some other menuor display item. In the example of FIG. 3A, the taskbar includes aprocess identified by the taskbar item 302. For illustrative purposes,the process is a Firefox® web browser that is at the sitewww.ebuddy.com. The screenshot appears as a conventional screen mightlook. However, when a new message arrives, the taskbar changes.

In the example of FIG. 3B, the taskbar includes the Firefox® web browserprocess, but the taskbar item 304 appears differently. Specifically,rather than depicting the site www.ebuddy.com, the taskbar item 304 nowindicates that a new message is available. The IM notificationfunctionality may be cool on a desktop, but can be particularly usefulin other implementations.

For example, notifying a user when new messages arrive or events happencan gracefully be done by a native IM application. However, foralternative web clients this is more difficult given the nature ofcontrol from within a browser to the Operating System. There is lesscontrol for alerts like flashing windows etc. from browsers. In suchcases, it may be particularly advantageous for a server to be able toprovide a user with alerts for new messages or events using the titlebar, task bar, or other display area of a browser.

In the example of FIG. 3C, the Firefox® browser is open, and the taskbaritem 306 indicates the current site is www.ebuddy.com. The titlebar 308includes similar information. If a new message is received, then boththe titlebar and the taskbar can be changed.

In the example of FIG. 3D, the taskbar includes the Firefox® web browserwith a changed taskbar item 310. The titlebar 312 is also changed toindicate a new message has been received. The exact information in atitlebar, taskbar, or other display area is implementation specific.Thus, the titlebar 312 is simply illustrative. When an event, message,or other data is available to the client, the titlebar 312 may change toshow information about the event. If properly configured, the taskbaritem 310 and the titlebar 312 could even display different information(though in a typical implementation the text is identical, albeit oftennecessarily shortened on the taskbar).

The title can be used to notify users of certain events by changing thetitle of the IM client. The changing of the text in the taskbar and/ortitlebar may stand out from other taskbars and/or with fixed texts.

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart 400 of an example of a method for changing atitle associated with a titlebar (and an associated taskbar item, ifapplicable). In the example of FIG. 4, the flowchart 400 starts atmodule 402 where an IM client process is running. The IM client processmay include, by way of example but not limitation, a browser.

In the example of FIG. 4, the flowchart 400 continues to decision point404 where it is determined whether an event has been received. If it isdetermined that an event has not been received (404-N), then theflowchart 400 continues to decision point 406 where it is determinedwhether to terminate the IM client process. If it is determined that theIM client process is to be terminated (406-Y), then the flowchart 400continues to module 408 where the IM client process is terminated, andthe flowchart 400 ends. If, on the other hand, it is determined that theIM client process is not to be terminated (406-N) then the flowchart 400loops back to decision point 404, as described above.

In the example of FIG. 4, eventually, assuming the IM client process isnot terminated (408), it is determined that an event has been received(404-Y), and the flowchart 400 continues to module 410 where the eventis processed. Events are processed in a known or convenient manner.

In the example of FIG. 4, the flowchart 400 continues to decision point412 where it is determined whether notification is called for. Eventsmay or may not result in notification of a user, depending upon theevent, embodiment, implementation, device limitations, and/or user's IMclient configuration. If it is determined that user notification iscalled for (412-Y), then the flowchart 400 continues to module 414 wherea title associated with the IM client process is modified. If, on theother hand, it is determined that user notification is not called for(412-N), or in any case after module 414, the flowchart 400 loops backto decision point 406, as described above.

Modifying the title (414) presumably modifies the display in theapplicable titlebar and/or the display in the applicable taskbar item.Conventional browsers typically do not allow setting a title in atitlebar that is different from the corresponding taskbar item. However,a display area could display information different from that of thetitle, if configured appropriately. Moreover, future browsers mayinclude functionality that allows displaying different titles in thetitlebar and the taskbar.

The title of the application may or may not keep the changed value untilthe user takes some action (e.g., clicking on the taskbar itemassociated with the IM client process). For example, the original titlecould be displayed after a certain amount of time has passed (e.g., a“new message” title could last for 10 seconds before reverting to theoriginal title). FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart 500 of an example of amethod for displaying an event-related title. In the example of FIG. 5,the flowchart 500 starts at module 502 where a browser is opened.

In the example of FIG. 5, the flowchart 500 continues to module 504 atitle associated with state of a browser is displayed in associationwith the browser. The state of the browser may include, for example, acurrent site for which the browser is displaying a page, as is shown inFIGS. 3A and 3C. In general, the title associated with state of thebrowser includes any title that would normally be displayed inassociation therewith prior to updating the title in response to anevent notification.

In the example of FIG. 5, the flowchart 500 continues to module 506where an event trigger is received. The event trigger is associated withan event that calls for notifying a user. For example, the event triggermay include receipt of a new instant message.

In the example of FIG. 5, the flowchart 500 continues to module 508where a title associated with the event is displayed in association withthe browser. Thus, the title associated with the state of the browser isreplaced by the title associated with the event. Moreover, in anon-limiting embodiment, the state of the browser is unchanged (otherthan the title, of course).

In the example of FIG. 5, the flowchart 500 continues to decision point510 where it is determined whether to close the browser. If the browseris not to be closed (510-N), then the flowchart 500 continues todecision point 512 where it is determined whether to continue to displaythe title associated with the event. If so (512-Y), then the flowchart500 loops back to module 508, as described previously. If not (512-N),then the flowchart 500 loops back to module 504, as describedpreviously. The determination as to whether to continue to display thetitle associated with the event may be based upon, by way of example butnot limitation, a notification timer, an event-specific timer, a useraction, or some other action that is sufficient to indicate that thetitle associated with the event should not longer be displayed. If, onthe other hand, the browser is to be closed (510-Y), then the flowchart500 continues to module 514 where the browser is closed, and theflowchart 500 ends.

The title of, e.g., a window shows up in both the titlebar of a windowand in the taskbar. Advantageously, users can be notified of events inthe taskbar, while they are using another application. The changingtaskbar would benefit clients on devices using a desktop system thatallows multiple applications to run at the same time, e.g. Mail client,Browser, IM, etc. While users are switching between various applicationsand an IM client they may not be aware of new messages/events that havearrived. The alternating messages can be seen in a taskbar even if, forexample, the browser window is minimized or behind other application orbrowser windows (as in FIGS. 3A, 3B).

Advantageously, in an embodiment, a title associated with an event caninclude programmed text effects. FIG. 6 depicts an example of a system600 for programmed text event-specific title provisioning. The system600 includes an input device 602, a network 604, an output device 606,and a computer 610. The input device 602 may be any known or convenientdevice that is capable of generating or forwarding events to thecomputer 610. In a typical implementation, events will be received atthe computer 610 via the network 604. Most computers include outputdevices for on which a variety of output is displayed.

The computer 610 includes an interface 612, an event processing engine614, a title provisioning engine 616, a title array 618, a multiplexer620, and a client 622. The interface 612 may include animplementation-specific number of different kinds of known or convenientinterfaces. The input device 602, the network 604, and the output device606 are coupled to the computer 610 using the interface 612.

An event received on the interface 612 (from either the input device 602or the network 604) is provided to the event processing engine 614 forprocessing in a known or convenient manner. The event processing engine614 may be embodied in a computer-readable medium. If user notificationis desired for the event, the user can be notified in any known orconvenient manner.

Advantageously, data associated with the event can also (or in thealternative) be provided to the title provisioning engine 616. The titleprovisioning engine 616 may be embodied in a computer-readable medium.In the example of FIG. 6, the title provisioning engine 616 inputs titlestrings, which are strings of characters, to the title array 618. Thetitle array 618 includes N−1 title array strings, embodied in acomputer-readable medium, which are referenced (for illustrativepurposes) as title array string [0] to title array string [N].

A given event may cause the title provisioning engine 616 to rewrite theentire title array 618 with title strings associated with the mostrecent events. Alternatively, a given event may cause the titleprovisioning engine 616 to append title strings to the end of the titlearray 618. In a non-limiting embodiment, the title provisioning engine616 updates the current title array 618 by adding new data associatedwith an event, excluding redundant data (e.g., data that is alreadyrepresented in the title array 618).

In the example of FIG. 6, the multiplexer 620 selects one of the titlearray strings for provisioning to the client 622. The multiplexer 620receives a control signal from the title provisioning engine 616 toaccomplish this task. The multiplexer 620 is a conceptual construct thatis intended to illustrate selecting one of the title array strings usingan index to the title array 618. Thus, the multiplexer 620 may or maynot be embodied in a computer-readable medium. It should be noted thatthe multiplexer 620, in at least one embodiment, is not a hardware MUX,though it could conceivably be implemented as such.

In the example of FIG. 6, the client 622 includes a title string 624 anda title generator 626. The client 622 may include, by way of example butnot limitation, an IM client, an email client, a VoIP client, or someother communications-related client. The client 622 may include awindow, panel, or some other display that includes a title. The titlegenerator 626 generates a title for the display in a known or convenientmanner.

However, in a non-limiting embodiment, the title provisioning engine 616controls the title generator 626 to either generate a title in the usualway (e.g., using the state of the client 622 to determine an appropriatetitle), or to not generate a title because a title string is availablefrom the title array 618. Thus, title string 624, which is embodied in acomputer-readable medium in association with the display, will includeeither a title generated in accordance with the state of the client 622or a title string from the title array 618 (specifically, the titlearray string selected by the multiplexer 620). The display (e.g., awindow including the title string 624) is provided to the interface 612for display on the output device 606.

Advantageously, although the title string 624 is likely to have displaylimitations associated with the client 622, the operating system, theoutput device 606, or other factors, creative control of the title array618 can yield interesting title display characteristics. For example,the title can appear to have scrolling text, blinking, alternating upperand lower case, etc.

Scrolling text may be accomplished by cycling through the title array618 over time. After the title array string [N] is displayed, the titlearray 618 can start over at title array string [0], or allow the titlegenerator 626 to generate a title instead. The scrolling text couldinclude the actual message of an IM message, displayed in the title overtime, the scrolling text could scroll through a list of senders of emailthat has not yet been checked. Blinking can be accomplished by,conceptually, making every other title array string blank.Alternatively, a NULL string could be periodically provided instead of atitle array string. The number of programmed text effects available tothose of ordinary skill in the art of computer programming, with thisteaching before them, are practically impossible to list exhaustively sono effort is made to do so herein.

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart 700 of an example of a method for displayingprogrammed text titles. In the example of FIG. 7, the flowchart 700starts at module 702 where an event that calls for user notification isprocessed. It may be noted that whether the event calls for usernotification may or may not be known until after the event is processed.

In the example of FIG. 7, the flowchart 700 continues to module 704where a first string of characters associated with the event isgenerated. There may or may not be a second, third, etc. string ofcharacters associated with the event generated, as well.

In the example of FIG. 7, the flowchart 700 continues to module 706where the first string of characters is stored in an array. The arraymay include other strings of characters associated with other events, orthe first string of characters (and second, third, etc. string ofcharacters) associated with the event may replace all current charactersstrings of the array.

In the example of FIG. 7, the flowchart 700 continues to module 708where the first string of characters is provided from the array to aprocess. The process may include, by way of example but not limitation,an IM client operating in a Windows® environment.

In the example of FIG. 7, the flowchart 700 continues to module 710where the first string of characters is used as a title in associationwith the process. For example, if the process is an IM client operatingin a Windows® environment, the first string of characters could be usedsuch that the window associated with the IM client includes the firststring of characters (or at least the first subset of the first stringof characters, if the window is too small to display the entire string)in the titlebar. Similarly, in this specific example, the first stringof characters could be displayed in a taskbar item associated with theIM client.

In the example of FIG. 7, the flowchart 700 continues to module 712where a second string of characters is provided from the array to theprocess. The second string of characters could be associated with thesame event as the first string of characters, an earlier event (wherethe second string remains in the array), or a later event (where thesecond string replaces or is in addition to strings associated with thelast processed event). The second string of characters could also beunassociated with an event. For example, the second string of characterscould be a NULL string that has the effect of causing the first stringof characters (if provided before and after the second string ofcharacters) to blink or flash.

In the example of FIG. 7, the flowchart 700 continues to module 714where the second string of characters is used as a title in associationwith the process. Then the flowchart 700 ends. It should be noted thatthe flowchart 700 simply illustrates a first and second string ofcharacters from the array being used as a title, and then ends. Ofcourse, the flowchart could continue with modules (not shown) where thefirst string of characters is repeated as a title, another event isprocessed, a third string of characters is provided, or with some otherapplicable module or sequence of modules.

FIG. 8 depicts a computer system 800 suitable for implementation of thetechniques described above with reference to FIGS. 1-7. The computersystem 800 includes a computer 802, I/O devices 804, and a displaydevice 806. The computer 802 includes a processor 808, a communicationsinterface 810, memory 812, display controller 814, non-volatile storage816, and I/O controller 818. The computer 802 may be coupled to orinclude the I/O devices 804 and display device 806.

The computer 802 interfaces to external systems through thecommunications interface 810, which may include a modem or networkinterface. The communications interface 810 can be considered to be partof the computer system 800 or a part of the computer 802. Thecommunications interface 810 can be an analog modem, ISDN modem, cablemodem, token ring interface, satellite transmission interface (e.g.“direct PC”), or other interfaces for coupling a computer system toother computer systems. Although conventional computers typicallyinclude a communications interface of some type, it is possible tocreate a computer that does not include one, thereby making thecommunications interface 810 optional in the strictest sense of theword.

The processor 808 may include, by way of example but not limitation, aconventional microprocessor such as an Intel Pentium microprocessor orMotorola power PC microprocessor. While the processor 808 is a criticalcomponent of all conventional computers, any applicable known orconvenient processor could be used for the purposes of implementing thetechniques described herein. The memory 812 is coupled to the processor808 by a bus 820. The memory 812, which may be referred to as “primarymemory,” can include Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and can alsoinclude Static RAM (SRAM). The bus 820 couples the processor 808 to thememory 812, and also to the non-volatile storage 816, to the displaycontroller 814, and to the I/O controller 818.

The I/O devices 804 can include a keyboard, disk drives, printers, ascanner, and other input and output devices, including a mouse or otherpointing device. For illustrative purposes, at least one of the I/Odevices is assumed to be a block-based media device, such as a DVDplayer. The display controller 814 may control, in a known or convenientmanner, a display on the display device 806, which can be, for example,a cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD).

The display controller 814 and I/O controller 818 may include devicedrivers. A device driver is a specific type of computer softwaredeveloped to allow interaction with hardware devices. Typically thisconstitutes an interface for communicating with the device, through abus or communications subsystem that the hardware is connected to,providing commands to and/or receiving data from the device, and on theother end, the requisite interfaces to the OS and software applications.

The device driver may include a hardware-dependent computer program thatis also OS-specific. The computer program enables another program,typically an OS or applications software package or computer programrunning under the OS kernel, to interact transparently with a hardwaredevice, and usually provides the requisite interrupt handling necessaryfor any necessary asynchronous time-dependent hardware interfacingneeds.

The non-volatile storage 816, which may be referred to as “secondarymemory,” is often a magnetic hard disk, an optical disk, or another formof storage for large amounts of data. Some of this data is oftenwritten, by a direct memory access process, into memory 812 duringexecution of software in the computer 802. The non-volatile storage 816may include a block-based media device. The terms “machine-readablemedium” or “computer-readable medium” include any known or convenientstorage device that is accessible by the processor 808 and alsoencompasses a carrier wave that encodes a data signal.

The computer system 800 is one example of many possible computer systemswhich have different architectures. For example, personal computersbased on an Intel microprocessor often have multiple buses, one of whichcan be an I/O bus for the peripherals and one that directly connects theprocessor 808 and the memory 812 (often referred to as a memory bus).The buses are connected together through bridge components that performany necessary translation due to differing bus protocols.

Network computers are another type of computer system that can be usedin conjunction with the teachings provided herein. Network computers donot usually include a hard disk or other mass storage, and theexecutable programs are loaded from a network connection into the memory812 for execution by the processor 808. A Web TV system, which is knownin the art, is also considered to be a computer system, but it may lacksome of the features shown in FIG. 8, such as certain input or outputdevices. A typical computer system will usually include at least aprocessor, memory, and a bus coupling the memory to the processor.

The computer system 800 may be controlled by an operating system (OS).An OS is a software program—used on most, but not all, computersystems—that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer.Typically, the OS performs basic tasks such as controlling andallocating memory, prioritizing system requests, controlling input andoutput devices, facilitating networking, and managing files. Examples ofoperating systems for personal computers include Microsoft Windows®,Linux, and Mac OS®. Delineating between the OS and application softwareis sometimes rather difficult. Fortunately, delineation is not necessaryto understand the techniques described herein, since any reasonabledelineation should suffice.

As used herein, algorithmic descriptions and symbolic representations ofoperations on data bits within a computer memory are believed to mosteffectively convey the techniques to others skilled in the art. Analgorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistentsequence of operations leading to a desired result. The operations arethose requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually,though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals asbits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or thelike.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion,it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or“determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action andprocesses of a computer that manipulates and transforms data representedas physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system'sregisters and memories into other data similarly represented as physicalquantities within the computer system memories or registers or othersuch information storage, transmission or display devices.

An apparatus for performing techniques described herein may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a generalpurpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computerprogram stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored ina computer readable storage medium, such as, by way of example but notlimitation, read-only memories (ROMs), RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magneticor optical cards, any type of disk including floppy disks, opticaldisks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and magnetic-optical disks, or any known orconvenient type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer architecture. The techniques may beimplemented using any known or convenient programming language, whetherhigh level (e.g., C/C++) or low level (e.g., assembly language), andwhether interpreted (e.g., Perl), compiled (e.g., C/C++), orJust-In-Time (JIT) compiled from bytecode (e.g., Java). Any known orconvenient computer, regardless of architecture, should be capable ofexecuting machine code compiled or otherwise assembled from any languageinto machine code that is compatible with the computer's architecture.

As used herein, the term “embodiment” means an embodiment that serves toillustrate by way of example but not limitation.

It will be appreciated to those skilled in the art that the precedingexamples and embodiments are exemplary and not limiting to the scope ofthe present invention. It is intended that all permutations,enhancements, equivalents, and improvements thereto that are apparent tothose skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a studyof the drawings are included within the true spirit and scope of thepresent invention. It is therefore intended that the following appendedclaims include all such modifications, permutations and equivalents asfall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: processing an eventthat calls for user notification; generating an event notification forthe event; storing the event notification in an array; providing theevent notification from the array to a process executed by a processor;using the event notification as a title in association with the process;providing an alternative title from the array to the process; using thealternative title as a title in association with the process.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: generating the alternative title,wherein the alternative title is associated with the event; storing thealternative title in the array.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theevent is a first event and the alternative title is a second eventnotification, further comprising: processing a second event that callsfor user notification; generating the second event notification for thesecond event; storing the second event notification in the array.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising alternating using the eventnotification as a title in association with the process with using aNULL string.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating thealternative title as a NULL string.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising alternating using the event notification as a title inassociation with the process with a variation of the event notification.7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the alternativetitle as a variation of the event notification.
 8. The method of claim1, further comprising: receiving affirmation that user notification wassuccessful; clearing the array.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising repetitively using the event notification as a title inassociation with the process.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: using the event notification as a title in association withthe process one or more times; removing the event notification from thearray.
 11. A system comprising: a means for processing an event thatcalls for user notification; a means for generating an eventnotification for the event; a means for storing the event notificationin an array; a means for providing the event notification from the arrayto a process; a means for using the event notification as a title inassociation with the process; a means for providing an alternative titlefrom the array to the process; a means for using the alternative titleas a title in association with the process.
 12. The system of claim 11,further comprising: generating the alternative title, wherein thealternative title is associated with the event; storing the alternativetitle in the array.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the event is afirst event and the alternative title is a second event notification,further comprising: a means for processing a second event that calls foruser notification; a means for generating the second event notificationfor the second event; a means for storing the second event notificationin the array.
 14. The system of claim 11, further comprising a means foralternating using the event notification as a title in association withthe process with using a NULL string.
 15. The system of claim 11,further comprising a means for generating the alternative title as aNULL string.
 16. The system of claim 11, further comprising a means foralternating using the event notification as a title in association withthe process with a variation of the event notification.
 17. The systemof claim 11, further comprising a means for generating the alternativetitle as a variation of the event notification.
 18. The system of claim11, further comprising: a means for receiving affirmation that usernotification was successful; a means for clearing the array.
 19. Thesystem of claim 11, further comprising a means for repetitively usingthe event notification as a title in association with the process. 20.The system of claim 11, further comprising: a means for using the eventnotification as a title in association with the process one or moretimes; a means for removing the event notification from the array.